Memphis or Orlando?

Neither city is on the coast, but only Orlando can realistically offer a beach day. Cocoa Beach and New Smyrna Beach have soft Atlantic sand about an hour away, and the calmer Gulf shore is around two hours off.

Memphis has nothing like that. The Mississippi is a working river where nobody swims, so in the heat you are left with hotel pools and lakes in the countryside.

Memphis has a cuisine of its own. Dry-rubbed ribs, pulled pork, barbecue spaghetti, catfish and Delta tamales give a visit a real food identity, served everywhere from neighbourhood pits to big downtown dining rooms.

Orlando's tourist corridors run on chains and themed dining. The better meals are out in the Vietnamese kitchens of Mills 50 and the chef-led places in Winter Park, which is a broader international spread than Memphis has, but you need to drive to them.

Here the gap is wide. In Memphis a few days go easily on Graceland, Sun Studio, the Stax museum and the Lorraine Motel, where the National Civil Rights Museum tells one of the central stories of American history.

Orlando grew up around citrus groves and theme parks and has little heritage to show. The Morse Museum's Tiffany collection is excellent and fills a morning, but the space story is told on the coast rather than in the city.

Memphis has the livelier night out. On Beale Street you can carry a drink from bar to bar with a band in every doorway, and Overton Square and Cooper-Young offer easier-going local bars.

Orlando's evenings divide between the themed bars of Disney Springs and CityWalk, which wind down early, and the student-heavy clubs downtown around Orange Avenue. Clubbing is actually easier to find in Orlando, but Memphis has the better bar-hopping with live music.

Both are flat, but Orlando's surroundings have more to explore. You can kayak in clear springs at Wekiwa, see manatees at Blue Spring, take an airboat past alligators, or watch birds on the lagoons of Merritt Island.

Memphis has the river itself, which you can cross on foot on the Big River Crossing, plus the lakes and bison of the vast Shelby Farms Park and the old-growth woods of Overton Park. It makes a pleasant afternoon rather than a reason to go.

Orlando has the stronger list of day trips. The Kennedy Space Center is about an hour away, St Augustine's Spanish fort and old streets are just under two hours north, and the Dalí Museum in St Petersburg is a similar drive west.

From Memphis the outings follow a single theme: Highway 61 south into the Delta for Clarksdale's juke joints and the Blues Trail, with Oxford and Tupelo nearby. These are small towns, and the trip rewards music pilgrims most. Both cities need a car for every one of these trips.

Orlando is built around children in a way few places are. Disney's parks, Universal, SeaWorld and Legoland, along with pool resorts and bunk-room suites, can fill a week with no gaps.

Memphis manages a couple of good days with the zoo, the Pink Palace planetarium and the ducks at the Peabody. Its headline museums on music and civil rights suit teenagers better than young children.

Both cities are car country, but Memphis is a little easier. Its downtown is compact enough to walk between Beale Street, the riverfront and the Civil Rights Museum, with heritage trolleys on Main Street, although Graceland and Midtown are a drive or a ride-hail away.

Orlando has no walkable centre to speak of, as the parks, hotels and downtown are spread for miles along Interstate 4. The exception is Disney's own monorail, boats and buses, which let a family staying on-site manage without a car.

For shopping, Orlando is a genuine draw. Its two premium outlet centres, the luxury labels at the Mall at Millenia and the brand stores at Disney Springs bring many international visitors, and Park Avenue in Winter Park adds a pleasant boutique street.

Shopping in Memphis is a sideline: vintage vinyl, music memorabilia and the small shops of Cooper-Young and Broad Avenue. Anyone after mainstream brands has to drive out to suburban malls.

Memphis is the cheaper trip. Hotels are reasonably priced and barbecue or soul-food plates are filling and inexpensive, although Graceland's admission and the cost of getting around add up.

In Orlando the hotel rooms themselves can be good value, especially condos in Kissimmee. Multi-day park tickets, express passes, parking and meals inside the parks are what push the total well above a Memphis visit.

Music is the heart of Memphis. House bands play blues and soul on Beale Street from the afternoon on, the Levitt Shell puts on free summer concerts in Overton Park, and the Orpheum, the symphony and a respected ballet company cover the formal arts.

Orlando's stages are mostly polished resort shows, fireworks and dinner theatre. The Dr. Phillips Center and the spring Fringe festival add real theatre, but there is little live roots music to compare with Memphis.

Neither city is somewhere you go to rest, but Orlando makes downtime easier. Its resort hotels have full spas, lazy rivers and landscaped pools for a slow day between parks, and Winter Park's lakes offer some calm.

Memphis has only hotel and suburban day spas. Its quiet moments are outdoors, an early walk in Overton Park or an evening on the bluffs above the river.